Tidbits

• First and foremost, I am not dead, or ill, or on vacation. I've just been busy. It's amazing to me how fast life can fill up with things to do, things that need to be done, and things that are just plain fun. I didn't take a break from blogging intentionally; there have been many times over the last couple of weeks that I've wanted to post, but never made it to the computer with time to write. One of the reasons for this is because we've been keeping the computer turned off and have only been turning it on as we need it, instead of just keeping it running all day long. If I want to post, I have to plan a time for it, which is a good thing, but it takes away a little bit of the spontaneity of things, and usually I save things for the end of the day, but by the time the kids are in bed, Brian and I drop into bed, exhausted, and go to sleep. But I want to post more often. I feel like blogging has been slipping away from me a little, and I don't want to lose it. I love how it captures little moments of our life that I wouldn't normally think to put in a journal.

• We went camping with my sister's family to Mt. Rainier a couple of weeks ago. We camped at Ohanapocosh and hiked to Silver Falls, then drove over to La Wis Wis to see the Blue Hole. The water was freezing cold, but Brian swung off the rope swing anyway. He wasn't prepared for how shallow the water was, and we're lucky he didn't get hurt. He even swam across the river, only to find that it was actually shallow enough to walk the whole way. Then he went back and forth, helping people across. Megan, Michael, Ethan, and I were the ones that went with him, though Ethan didn't get wet since Brian carried him on his shoulder. Did I mention that it was cold? Like, ice cold? It was fun, though. I wore my flip flops, because Brian said that the rocks on the bottom were hurting his feet, but every time I took a step, my shoes would get caught in the current and start to pull me back. I'm glad I had Brian to hold on to.

• We planted grass in the back yard on Saturday. There was some grass back there already, but not much, so hopefully this will take even though it's the wrong time of year to plant. We used the grass clippings from the front yard as a mulch to cover the seeds, but we didn't have enough, so Brian ended up mowing our neighbor's front and back lawns. It was funny when the mom came out to say thank you, and she mentioned that he sons was concerned that he wouldn't get his allowance, sine someone else was doing his work for him. I hope the seeds take, because it would be so fun to have good grass back there for the kids to play on.
  

• We've been having a great time looking at houses and lots to put houses on, and talking with different contractors. The plan right now is that we'll either build or buy next summer, so right now we're still gathering information on different areas and builders, but mostly we're just dreaming, and it is so fun. We've looked at a few different houses that we'll never be able to afford, just to get ideas on floor plans and whatnot. Half the time we set out in the car, we end up driving around looking for a place we might want to end up. Brian and I are having a wonderful time planning our dream house - listing what we want, then paring it down to what we really need, and trying to figure out how to get what we both want and need in the best way possible.

• Brian's dad went to Prosser to pick cherries last weekend and brought back a whole bunch, which he shared with us. Last night we made cherry cobbler with homemade ice cream, and it was so yummy.

• Marcus is talking up a storm, but half the time he's speaking Gibberish and expecting us to understand. I love when he lets out a string of nonsense syllables, then looks at me with an expression that says, "Did you get that? I couldn't have made myself any clearer...Why are you not doing as I've asked?" He's also saying a lot of words, and it's fun to hear him talk.

• Alyssa's losing teeth left and right. If our tooth fairy wasn't so cheap, we'd be broke right now, but luckily our tooth fairy believes it's the novelty, not the amount of money that makes it special, and she's never upgraded from the classic quarter. There was one time, though, that she went to bed without exchanging the tooth, and Alyssa woke up to find her tooth still under her pillow in the morning. The tooth fairy gave her two quarters the next night, and she hasn't missed a tooth since.

• Ethan is doing very well with potty training. Part of me is kicking myself for not taking the opportunity more seriously when he was potty training himself last summer, but the other part of me realizes that the situation wasn't ideal last summer, and it was nice not to have to deal with accidents through the winter while Brian was gone. Ethan is also doing amazing with the alphabet. He knows all the letters, and their sounds. We play a letter game with his flashcards every day for summer school, and he loves it.